Loom



S. P. PARKER June 17, 1952 LOOM 2 SHEETS-SHEET l Filed Feb. l, 1950 June 17, 1952 s. P. PARKER 2,600,682

l Loom Filed Feb. l, 1950 2 SI'EETS-SFEET 2 N VEN TOR.

A T T URNEYS Patented June 17, 1952 Samuel P. Parker, La Grange, Ga., assigner to Callaway Mills Company, La Grange, Ga., a corporation of Georgia Application February 1, 1950, Serial No. 141,680

Claims. l

This invention relates `to control means for looms for weaving terry fabrics, such as are used for towels, wash cloths, etc., and is concerned more particularly with a novel dobby mechanism especially adapted for use with a terry loom supplied with pile yarns of at least two colors and producing a fabric with pile areasrmade up of a ground formed of loops of one color and figures formed of'loops of another color. The new dobby may be used in place of a Jacquard mechanism for controlling a loomin the weaving ofthe terry fabric described and, since a -dobby loom can be operated at a substantially higher speed than a Jacquard loom, the use of the new dobby results in a considerable reduction in cost. In addition, the preparation of the pattern chain employed with the dobby isless expensive than punching aset vof,Jacquard,:cards and portions of the chainmay` be reassembledto produce a new chain, when a pattern change is, necessary.

Anexample Aof afabric of the-kindreferred,toA above is one used in making hotel towels kwoven on the face with a center stripe of one color, usually white, on which thefnameof 3 the` hotel appears in ,letters ofla different color, such asred., In'sucha fabric, theA lettering appears on both faces of the fabric on abackground Voffa, contrasting color and, Vsince the arrangement of` the colors onthe backv is the reverse of that on theface, the,` fabric is commonly referred toas areversible center na1ne.fabric. In the weaving of sllCh a fabric `bymeans of a J acquarlV mecha: nism, a set of cards mustbe preparedfor each name to be wovenl and Vregular productionvof towels for a number of different customers thus involyes making a considerable investment,l in Cards.`

The V.present invention isydirected to the production of a dobbyr mechanism, which may be used'V with a terry looml in the ,productionnof reversible center name fabrics and yothers; of the same general construction. The,l new dobby is actuated by the usual chain, but isof such kcon,-` struction that, in-terry weaving,r4 the ychainfneed have only one bar for eachfthree picks forming abeat-up, whereas thechainv-employed with an ordinarydobbyincludes a-bar foreach pick. The pegging of Vthebars of a chain Iforfthe new dobby is thus much simpler than the preparationdof a chain for an ordinary dobby and, since the bars arer detachable and groups ofl bars representing asingleY letter may be reassembled for theproduction of different names,` reversible` center name fabrics may be madeformany customers by the useof thenevv dobby withouta largeinvestment in bars or substantial expense in changing over from one pattern to another.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference may be made to the accompanying, drawings, in which- Fig, 1 is a View in elevation of one form of the new dobby mounted on a loom, together with adobby jack and-a harness frame controlled thereby;

Fig 2 is a vertical sectional Viewshowing details ofthe dobby of Fig- 1;

Fig. 3 is ay viewsimilar to Fig. 2 showing den tails of anothenform of the newdobby;

Fig. 4`- is av viewin perspective `of a chain for use-with the dobby;

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view showing details of'Fig. 3 on an enlarged scale; and

Fig. 6-is a sectional view on the line G-Iof. Fig. 5.

The dobby shown in Fig. 1 includes spaced side frame members lil connected by a rod II lying within the forked lower ends of a-pluralityof` harness levers I2. The upper end of each lever. isnotched to receive a wire loop I 3 connected by. al wire- Ill vto-the ends of straps I5 passing over sheaves I6 mounted on the loom archA I1. The straps are attached to a harness frame I8 near oppositeV ends thereof and the frame is connected bystraps VI9g-to the upper ends of springs 20; se, cured at their lower ends to the floor. Only one harness leverrand one harness frame are shown, but the ordinary loom may include fifteen 'or more harnesses, each connectedas described to its own harness lever, the levers lying side byside and engaging the rod I I.

Each harness lever is connected near its lower end by an arm I2a to the central pivot of ra jack 2|, Vto the opposite ends of which are pivotally attachedhooks 22, 23. The upper hook 122- is formed with-its hooked end pointing up, while the hooked end of the lower hook 23 points down. The hooks lie between and are engageable with upper and lowerknives 2li, 25, which extend bev-` tween -the frame. members .I0 .ofthe dobby with their endsV entering slots Illal in the members. The ends of the knives are connected, respectively, by rods 24a, 25a to the opposite ends of rocker levers 2-pivoted on the dobby frame mem-.- bers Il),` and the levers 25 .are provided with arms ZBafattachedto connecting rods 2l actuatedby the usual cranks on a crank shaft of the construction ordinarily used with dobbies. In the operation of the loom, the rockers 26 are .rocked onceper lpick-and, asone knife movesoutl or away from'the loom, the other knife movesin.

Each dobby jack 2| is engageable at its opposite ends with upper and lower girts 28, 29 connecting the dobby frame members and, in this position of a jack, the harness lever connected thereto is held in its extreme inward position by the weight of its harness and the action of springs 2U and the harness is down. The hooks 22, 23 attached to a jack are selectively engageable with their associated knives to effect the raising and lowering of the harness controlled by the jack and the operation of the hooks is controlled as follows.

A plurality of fingers 3i), one for each jack, are pivotally mounted on a rod 33.1: extending between the dobby frame members lil, and each finger is weighted at one end, so that, as seen in Fig. l, the fingers tend to swing clockwise. The unweighted end of each finger is formed of two parts, of which the part a. is turned at an angle and is engageable with the under side of the lower hook 23 of the jack controlled by the finger. The other part 30h of the unweighted end of the finger supports one end of a needle 3l movable vertically in upper and lower guides attached to the dobby frame members, and the upper end of the needle is engageable with the under side of the upper hook 22 of the jack controlled by the finger. When the finger is in the position shown in Fig. l, the upper hook 22 lies with its hooked end out of the path of the upper knife 24, while the lower hook 23 is in such position that its hooked end is in the path of the lower knife 25.

A pattern chain 32 made up of bars 33, each having as many holes 33ar as there are lingers 3U, is trained over a cylinder 34 mounted on a shaft 34a, rotatable in bearings carried by the dobby frame. In an ordinary dobby, the cylinder shaft is driven stepwise to advance the chain by one barfor each pick, but, with the new dobby, the cylinder is driven to advance the chain one bar for each three picks. The chain is prepared by insertion of pegs 35 in holes 33a in bars 33 and, as each bar arrives at the top of the cylinder, the pegs thereon engage the fingers 3E! aligned with the pegs and swing the ngers counterclockwise. If a bar in operative position at the top of the cylinder contains no peg opposite a finger, the finger remains at rest and the lower hook 23 controlled by the finger thus lies out of the path of knife 25, while the associated upper hook 22 lies in position to be engaged by the upper knife 24.

In the use of a loom equipped with the new dobby in weaving a reversible center name terry fabric, in which, for example, red lettering appears on the face of the fabric on a white background,v the pile warp yarns are drawn in pairs o f harnesses, with the red yarns in the No. 1 harness of a pair and the white yarns in the No. 2 harness. This arrangement is used for all the harnesses required for shedding the warp yarns employed thoughout the width of the center stripe. In the weaving of a part of the stripe, on which a letter appears, the odd numbered harnesses of the group used for weaving the stripe are raised on the first and third picks of the group of three, which are beaten up simultaneously, and are lowered on the second pick. The corresponding even numbered harnesses of the group are lowered on the first and third picks of each beat-up and raised on the second pick. With these operations, the red yarns form the loops in the lettering on the face of the fabric and the background on the back, while the white yarns form the loops in the background on the face and the lettering on the back. With the new dobby, only a single bar on the pattern chain is required for each cycle of three picks.

rfhe operation of the dobby may be understood from an examination of Fig. 2, showing how a single odd numbered harness is controlled. As illustrated, the dobby jack 2| is in the in or back position against girts 28, 29 and its harness lever is back and the harness is down. The lower knife is back and the upper knife forward `and the chain bar 33 in active position has a pin 35, which has raised the weighted end of the dobby finger 3G. As a result, the lower hook 23 has been lowered, so that its hooked end lies in the path of the lower knife 25, while the upper hook lies below the path of travel of the upper knife 24. When the lower knife advances on the first pick of the beat-up, the knife engages and advances the lower hook and this causes the jack 2| to rock on the upper girt 28 as a fulcrum and to pull on the harness lever l2 and raise the harness. On the advance of the lower knife, the upper knife 24 moves back. On the second pick, the bar 33 on the chain remains in position, so that, as the lower knife moves back and the upper knife advances, the jack 2i rocks back to engage both girts, the upper knife missing the upper hook as the knife advances. The operation on the third pick is the same as that on the first, so that, on this beat-up, the harness has been up on the rst and third picks and down on the second. At the end of the cycle, the lower hook is engaged with the lower knife in the forward position and the harness is up. At this point, the chain advances by one bar and, if the cycle is to be the same as the first, the bar has no peg in position to engage finger 3D.

When the finger 30 is released, the weight on one end swings the finger clockwise, this movement being permitted because the end portion 30a of the finger lies opposite the upwardly curved under surface 23a, of the lower hook 23 and is out of contact therewith. As the finger swings, its end portion 30h acts through needle 3l to raise upper hook 22 and place its hooked end in the path of the upper knife 24, then inthe back position. When the upper hook advances and the lower hook moves back on the fourth pick, both hooks are engaged by the knives, so that the harness remains up. When the lower knife is fully back, the end portion 30a of the finger frees the lower hook from the lower knife and, for the fifth and sixth picks, the same chain bar stays in place, the lower hook is out of action, and the upper knife and hook cooperate to lower the harness on the flf-th pick and raise it on the sixth pick. Thus, in two cycles, the harness is up on the first, third, fourth, and sixth picks and down on the second and fifth picks, so that the cycles are the same. In the first cycle, the lower hook and knife are effective, while, in the second, the upper hook and knife are in operation.

If the pattern requires that the second cycle be the opposite of the first, the second chain bar becoming active will have a peg opposite finger 30. On the fourth pick, the upper knife remains out of operation, and, as the lower knife moves back, the harness is lowered. The lower knife then raises the harness on the iifth pick and lowers it on the sixth. As a result, the harness positions during the second cycle are down, up, down, which is the reverse of the first cycle, namely, up, down, up.

The even numbered harnesses are operated in Apath of knife 24.

theV same manner as the odd numbered harnesses.

but inreverse order. Thus, whentheodd num-Y beredharnesses are--up, the even numbered har-v nessesy arefdown-. Accordingly, when a given` chain' bar` carries pegsy forV oper-ation ofthe iingersfcontrolling the harnesses of one set, the bar has no Apegsinf-Aposition lto act on the fingers-.cone trolling-the4 harnessesof the otherj set. l

In'thedobby illustrated in-Figs. 1 and 2, th

lowerM hooks are similar to thosein an ordinary dobby, while the upper hooks` have-been turned upside down, so that Itheir hookedvends point up,A

andM the shanks of" the hooks are somewhat straightened-out; Also, bothhooks arefpivoted onf pivotslyingfbetween the paths of travel of thegknives.` In Ithe modified construction shown in Fig-3',- each jack-'2 l isvconnected to upper and lower -hooks-22 and 23', which are of conventional construction andv mounted' with their hooked-ends pointed down. Both hooks are pivoted 'on pivots -lying above the paths -of their respective-knives. The finger 3U- functions Vas before tdraise-and lower the lower hook 23 under the control of ybars 33'` on a pattern chain, and a modified` needle is employedv to transmit the movements of the fingerrto the upper hook 22.

The modiiiedneedle comprises a-lower section 3la'vertically movable in al guide and'engaged at its lower end by the end portion h' of the finger, and a lever 36-pivoted-between its ends on cross-rod 3l and having one end connected to the upper end of needle section 3io. The other end of leven 36 is connected to the-lower endof a second needle section 3io vertically movable in a guide and having its upper end in position to engage the upper hook 22 from beneath. A spring` 38 wound about rod 3l has one end entering a hole in rod 31 and its other endenters ahole inlever 36; The spring tends to rock lever 36`counter-clockwise, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5, to cause needle section 3|b to raise the upper knife 22.

In the operation of the modified dobby of Fig. 3, a single finger 30 operates both hooks connected to the same jack and, when no peg on the active chain bar engages the finger, the finger swings to raise lower hook 23 out of the path of knife 25 and acts through the compound needle to permit hook 22 to dro-p down into the If the finger is swung by a peg on the chain bar, the lower hook is permitted to swing down to be engaged by knife 25', while spring 38 rocks lever 36 and causes needle section 3Ib to raise hook 22 out of action. Thus, as in the construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a single finger operates both hooks attached to a single jack, causing the hooks to be alternately effective. Accordingly, in the weaving of terry fabrics with the modified dobby, a single pattern chain bar serves to control the three picks in each cycle and, if successive cycles are to be the same, the bar for the first cycle differs from that of the second, in that one has a peg for a given finger and the other is blank.

I claim:

l. In a dobby mechanism, the combination of a plurality of harness levers mounted vertically for pivoting on a horizontal axis and connected to respective harnesses, a plurality of vertical dobby jacks, one for each lever and pivotally connected thereto between its ends, upper and lower girts engageable by the ends of the jacks to limit their movement in one direction, a hook attached to each end of each jack and extending substantially horizontally therefrom, a pair 6, off knives4 reciprocable Vin upper andflower: horizontal planes adjacent ther` hooks,... means for. re, ciprocatingthe knives with the knives .moving in opposite directions during. each movementofthe` knives, a-pivotedfinger for. each pairoffhooks ,at-

tachedto asingleijack, theiinger engagingone.

hook ofY its. pair andv being., operable. to .move said hook.v into `andioutpf the path `of.` one. of said knives,` needle -means -actuatedbyeach finger for.` moving. theV other hook:l of its pairinto and out of the-path of the vother-knife, and pattern means forj operatingl then-ngers, each nger andits-needle-means co-operating lon eachv operation of the fingerby the pattern meansto move one hookeof Lthevpair controlled by therlnger into the path :of one-knifeand-to move the other hook offsaidpair outA ofthe@ path of vtheiother knife.

2, In a dobby mechanism, the.combinationiof aY plurality of harness vlevers `mounted vertically for pivoting onI a horizontal axis and Iconnected to respectiveharnesses, a plurality. ofy` vertical dobby,A jacks, one. for eaehlever andpivotally connected theretov betweenA its ends, upper Vand a lowergirts engageable by-theendsof thejacks to limit their movementinonedirectiom a-hook attachedto each end of eachjack and extend. ing substantially horizontally` therefrom, av pair of knives reciprocable in upper -andlower hori-4 zontal planesvadjacentthe hooks, mea-ns for reciprocating the kniveswith-theknives moving in f opposite directions during each movement of the' knives, a pivoted ngerfor eachpair of hooksattached to a single jack, then-nger enN gaging one hook of its pairandbeing operable to move saidfhook into-and out of.` the .path of one of-said-knives, a needleemember actuated byseach finger, a-'secondneedle member engaging thev second hookof the pair associated with thefi'nger, a connection between-the needle members, theangeracting through the Imembers and connection to move the second hook into and out of the path of the other knife, and pattern means for operating the ngers, each finger and its needle members and connection co-operating on each operation of the finger by the pattern means to move one hook of the pair controlled by the finger into the path of one knife and to move the other hook of said pair out of the path of the other knife.

3. In a dobby mechanism, the combination of a plurality of harness levers mounted vertically for pivoting on a horizontal axis and connected to respective harnesses, a plurality of vertical dobby jacks, one for each lever and pivotally connected thereto between its ends, upper and lower girts engageable by the ends of the jacks to limit their movement in one direction, a hook attached to each end of each jack and extending substantially horizontally therefrom, a pair of knives reciprocable in upper and lower horizontal planes adjacent the hooks, the upper hooks lying below and the lower hooks above the upper and lower knives, respectively, means for reciprocating the knives with the knives moving in opposite directions during each movement of the knives, a pivoted finger for each pair of hooks attached to a single jack, the finger engaging the lower hook of its pair and being operable to move said hook into and out of the path of the lower knife, a needle actuated by the finger for moving the upper hook of its pair into and out of the path of the upper knife, and pattern means for operating the fingers, each finger and its needle cooperating on each operation of the finger by the pattern means to move one hook of the pair controlled by the linger into the path of one knife and to move the other hook of the pair out of the path of the other knife.

4. In a dobby mechanism, the combination of a plurality of harness levers mounted vertically for pivoting on a horizontal axis and connected to respective harnesses, a plurality of vertical dobby jacks, one for each lever and pivotally connected thereto between its ends, upper and lower girts engageable by the ends of the jacks to limit their movement in one direction, a hook attached to each end of each jack and extending substantially horizontally therefrom, a pair of knives reciprocable in upper and lower horizontal planes adjacent the hooks, the hooks lying on the same side of the paths of the respective knives, means for reciprocating the knives with the knives moving in opposite directions during each movement thereof, a pivoted linger for each pair of hooks attached to a single jack, the finger engaging the lower hook of its pair and being operable to move said hook into and out of the path of the lower knife, a needle member actuated by each finger, a second needle member engaging the second hook of the pair associated with the finger, a connection between the needle members, the finger acting through the members and connection to move the second hook into and out of the path of the upper knife, and pattern means for operating the fingers, each finger and its needle members and connection co-operating on each operation of the finger by the pattern means to move one hook of the pair controlled by the finger into the path of one knife and the other hook of said pair out of the path of the other knife.

5. In a dobby mechanism, the combination of a plurality of harness levers mounted vertically for pivoting on a horizontal axis and connected to respective harnesses, a plurality of vertical dobby jacks, one for each lever and pivotally con- 8 nected thereto between its ends, upper and lower girts engageable by the ends of the jacks to limit their movement in one direction, a hook attached to each end of each jack and extending substantially horizontally therefrom, a pair of knives reciprocable in upper and lower horizontal planes adjacent the hooks, the upper hook being pivoted below the path of travel of the upper knife and having its hooked end pointing up and the lower hook being pivoted above the path of travel of the lower knife and having its hooked end pointing down, means for reciprocating the knives with the knives moving in opposite directions during each movement of the knives, a pivoted finger for each pair of hooks attached to a single jack, the finger engaging the lower hook of its pair and being operable to move said hook into and out of the path of the lower knife, a needle engaged by each finger and engaging the upper hook of the pair associated with said linger, the needle being operable to move said upper hook into and out of the path of the upper knife and pattern means for operating the fingers, each finger and its needle co-operating on each operation of the finger by the pattern means to move one hook of the pair controlled by the finger into the path of one knife and the other hook of said pair out of the path of the other knife.

SAMUEL P. PARKER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 434,061 Hattersley et al. Aug. 12, 1890 765,739 Klingele July 26, 1904 1,682,791 Malloy Sept. 4, 1928 

